Nantes plan (1698)

Plan (1698) collected by Loïc Menanteau (geographer Univ. Nantes)

see Ouest France

"There hadn't been many transformations since medieval times".
It is "a very little-known watercolour manuscript plan of Nantes dating from 1698, according to Loïc Ménanteau, the history-mad Nantes native.
That is to say, before the transformations of the city in the 18th century".
This document is of immense interest "because of its precision".
It shows perfectly the configuration of the city and its confluence site, the islands and the sandy banks, such as the Saulzaie.
The site of the confluence and the estuary bottom of Nantes appears clearly at a time when there had not been many transformations since medieval times.
What interested me most, perhaps through professional distortion (researcher in geography, editor's note), was the very precise representation for the time of the outline of the islands, the sandbanks, including the one where the Feydeau housing estate was later built, from 1740 onwards".

 SHOM map overlaid on Google Maps imagery with the GeoGarage platform

You can also discover the mouths of rivers, such as the Chézine, Erdre and Sèvre Rivers in Nantes, and the Loire crossing line with all the bridges.
You can see on the plan the traces of the designer's grid pattern, which shows his desire for precision. This publication delighted many people in Nantes by sharing it on his Facebook.
The plan shows many other types of interesting points: the medieval enclosure and its moat (dry or wet), the 16th century fortifications to protect the Marchix suburb, the convents and other constructions outside the enclosure (extra-muros).

 plan Cacault (1766)

sources : Nantes archives

Add to this the medieval fortified enclosure with its moat and, to the north-west, the fortifications built in 1562-1598 to protect the Faubourg du Marchix, churches and convents.